Phate
by Weskette
Summary: She had appeared out of nowhere. One morning she was there, found sleeping on the back door's steps. She didn't remember anything about herself. The only thing she did recall was her name, Phate. What does this child have to do with Vincent and Yuffie?


**Phate**

She had appeared out of nowhere. One morning she was there, found sleeping on the back door's steps. She was sick, a fever and some lacerations on her arms. She was dressed in a white dress, her black hair clashing with her pale skin. She had one dark blue eye and one bright red one. She also looked to be about ten or eleven years old. When she came to, she didn't remember what had brought her there. She didn't remember anything about herself. The only thing she did recall was her name, Phate.

When Cloud had found her on his daily trip to take out the trash, he had brought her inside. Tifa had nursed her back to health and offered her shelter. She had been with AVALANCHE since.

Phate trained her gaze on the newest person she had been introduced to. He was a little younger than herself, with light brown hair that fell slightly in his face. His name was Denzal.

She smiled. "Hello, Denzal."

"Hi, Phate." He grinned back as he passed by her.

After he exited the room she resumed reading. Her book was one she had borrowed from Vincent, the tall gunslinger who had been one of the first people she had met here.

She stood up and walked out of the living room. It was barely even twelve o'clock yet, so she was able to go down the stairs to an mostly emty bar. The only people there was a slim woman who looked to be in about her twenties sitting at the bar talking to Tifa.

"I just don't know, Tifa." The woman spoke.

"It's fine, Yufs, okay? He's shy. You know that." Tifa replied comfortingly.

She leaned against the counter and bit her lip. "You sure I should even try?"

"One hundred percent sure." Tifa leaned her face on her hand and raised her eyebrows.

"Thanks, Teef."

At that, Phate came through the doorway.

"Oh!" Tifa started, "Meet our new guest! "Yuffie, meet Phate. Phate, Yuffie. Phate arrived while you were on that mission Reeve had sent you on."

"Hello," Phate greeted.

"Hey." Yuffie scrunched up her eyebrows for a moment. "Are you wutain?"

Phate shook her head. "I don't know."

"She lost her memory. We don't know much about her, unfortunately." Tifa included in so Yuffie wouldn't be as confused.

"Well, I'll say something in wutain and see if you know what it means. Is that okay?" Yuffie asked, her mind officaily off of her boy problems.

"Yes," Phate smiled at the little bit of hope she had gotten.

"Okay... Umm... Hajimemashite!(Nice to meet you!)" Yuffie spoke in her wutain accent.

"Yukkuri shabette kuremasuka? (Can you say it slower?)" Phate smiled slyly. Her wutain was easily spoken and flowed well off her tongue.

Yuffie laughed. "Yoi!(Good!) At least we know where your from now!"

"Great!" Tifa smiled. "Now you two and Vincent can have conversations together," She joked.

"Speaking of Vinnie," Yuffie looked over to Tifa, "Have you seen him lately?"

"Yeah. He's up on the roof." The older woman replied.

"Thanks." She got up from her seat and began to run up the stairs. "Mata atode aimashou!(See you later!)" She yelled as she left.

Phate sat down at the bar and looked over at Tifa. "Would you like help with supper tonight?"

Tifa laughed. "You're a good kid."

* * *

"Vinnie!" Yuffie called out as she passed through the door that led onto the rooftop. "You up here?"

"Yes," came the steady voice of her cloak-clad friend. She walked to him and gave him a quick hug, of which he didn't return, but he didn't push away either. To Yuffie, that was progress for him.

"What's up, Vinnie?" She smiled, and sat down next to him.

He sighed. "I wish you wouldn't call me that."

"What? Vinnie? But that's your nickname!" She objected, "I give nicknames to all my friends. Well, at least all the ones that I think are worth while. And face it, Vin, your definitely my best friend."

He didn't continue on with the conversation. He was trapped in thought about the fact someone thought of him as a friend, let alone a best friend. He had to admit to himself that she was his friend and a good one at that. She had stayed by his side since she had met him(though there were a few joking exclamations of 'Vampire!' from the ninja). She had stayed with him after the revelation of his harbored demon and a few of their friends had kept their distance for awhile. But, she had trusted him enough to believe that he wouldn't hurt her.

Vincent had surprised himself when in a battle with two different dragons, he had transformed. Right before the change, he had told Yuffie to get away so she wouldn't be hurt. She stayed and fought beside the demonic form of Chaos, admitting that he had saved her from a dragon's finishing attack. He had been more trusting of himself since, and glad to have Yuffie by his side.

The sun had sunk down from the center of the sky. Vincent assumed that it must be close to three o'clock.

Yuffie looked over at her dark haired friend. "How are you, Vinnie? It's been forever since I've been back."

"Fine," he replied simply, knowing she would continue talking to him if he gave her a less than adequate answer. As much as he hated to admit it, he enjoyed listening to her chat with him.

"Just fine? I've been gone for two weeks, and you were fine? I'm surprised you weren't hurt. If Reeve sent you on any missions on your own, without the greatest ninja who ever lived, you'd be hurt. Face it, Vin, we're better off on missions together verses on our own. Your hopeless without me," she half-joked. "But seriously," she paused. "I did miss you while I was gone, so you had better've missed me."

Vincent took a moment to answer before nodding gently. "I did." He didn't add the part that he had been worried about her, enough to the point where he had become slightly careless in his missions. A few close calls had made him realise he had indeed missed her. His concern came from the fact that she was a clumsy at times, and had put the two of them in danger multiple times.

Yuffie smiled at his answer. "We'll have to force Reeve to put us back as partners in the battlefield, eh Vince? That way we won't get hurt on our own."

He caught the tone of her voice and looked over at her. "You were hurt?"

She bit her lip, the joking mood instantly gone. "Yeah... that's why it took so long for me to come back... I got too careless and an enemy nearly broke my arm."

Vincent instantly turned towards her. "Are you okay?"

" 'M fine, Vinnie." She held out an arm to show him the nearly healed wound. "See?"

He nodded, satisfyed that his friend was in no immiediate peril. "Be sure to keep it from growing infected."

"I will," She stated simply.

The door to the rooftop opened to show the young girl, Phate. "Yuffie, Vincent, Tifa requested me to get you for dinner."

Yuffie smiled at her. "C'mon, Vince, let's go get dinner." She tugged on his arm. "Thanks, Phate."


End file.
